Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Party that WAS

It is 2:30 a.m. and I have gotten up specifically to write this
entry, hoping that I can go back to sleep afterwards. It's the third time I have
awakened, since I first went to sleep at 10, unable to keep my eyes opened. The dogs
are looking at me as if I'm out of my ever-lovin' mind.

We went to the party that we thought was last week tonight. Amazing
what a difference it makes when you come on the right day! We figured we had to be
on the right day when we parked behind a car with a license plate holder that read
"I'd rather be reading Jane Austen."

The house looked very welcoming, with the leftover Halloween
scarecrow to greet us.

When we got in the house, there was the noise of happy people
mingling, and Peter was wearing shoes. More good signs!

"Please come and eat," Susan begged.
"People are drinking wine, but nobody is eating." Needless to
say, I didn't need a second invitation and headed for the food table.

I must have given a wonderful example because by the time we left,
two hours later, there was very little food left.

This was the first time I was meeting any of the other volunteers at
Logos. We each work our solitary shifts, but don't have any reason to interact at
all. I did meet one woman once, at the store's 2nd anniversary celebration, but she
wasn't at the party. Some of the people there were former volunteers, a couple were
neighbors, and two were artists who have shown their work at the store (which features a
local artist's paintings every couple of months or so).

I chatted with Harrison, the 20-something manager of the shop, who
takes over when Susan and Peter are out of Davis. He's a delightful, if quiet,
person and we talked about a cruise he had taken up the inland passage to Alaska, the
cruise I still want to take some day. He said it was the only cruise he had ever
taken and that he had loved it.

I don't "stand" well for long periods, so I ended up being
the first person to choose a chair and sit down. A woman named Bridgit looked
relieved that someone was sitting and immediately came to sit next to me. What a
delightful woman! She is one of the "former volunteers," claiming,
good-naturedly, that she was the only volunteer to ever have been "fired."
She explained that she was one of the first volunteers but in the summer when UCD
students were looking for volunteer opportunities to punch up their resumes, she had given
up her slot to a younger person.

She and her husband, who appear to be at least our age, and probably
older, had just come back from a kayaking vacation and I was amazed. That is like
suggesting Walt and I go kayaking for a week. Walt could do it, I have no doubt, but
getting this fat body and these aching bones into a kayak...and then remaining upright
for more than a few seconds boggles the mind. But she did it and laughed about how
the guides actually pulled her out of the kayak each day because she couldn't get out
herself.

A woman came to introduce herself to me and tell me how much she has
enjoyed reading my reviews over the years, which was very nice to hear her say.

We were joined by others and talked about our love of working at
Logos and the books that we have found there. I discovered we all had some of the
same favorite books from our youth, books like "Marjorie Morningstar," the Nancy
Drew books and others. I decided that one of these days I'm going to read a Nancy
Drew book at the store, just for nostalgia sake.

Eventually Brigit and her husband prepared to leave and I moved to
the couch, with Walt and a couple of other people. One of them was the artist who
had displayed his paintings at the store a couple of months ago. What a delightful
man! Though he studied art in college, "life" intervened and he ended up
working in a regular business until he retired. He rediscovered his love of painting
at the Davis Senior Center, where he is the only person now working each week in oil (he
says the women don't like the smell of the paints and the oils and prefer to work in
watercolor). Art is obviously his passion and it was so nice to watch him talking
about his work.

As we left the party, I realized that I had actually talked
to people without feeling self-conscious. Susan and Peter were gracious hosts, as I
knew they would be, and I realized again why I love working at Logos, and working for
these lovely people.

Now maybe I can get back to sleep, though perhaps it is not the
undone job of writing this entry that has been waking me up, but the terror of realizing
that today is election day and the fear of the possibilities out there.

Trying to think positive. (It was also nice to realize that
everyone at the party seemed to be feeing the same way I do about the election, and hoping
for an Obama win, fearing a Romney one!)